Computer{Supported Cooperative Conceptual Modeling Babak A. Farshchian
[email protected] IDI, NTNU, Norway
Abstract Conceptual models of information systems emerge as the result of cooperation among di erent user groups. There are however few research e orts focused on providing collaboration support for this activity. This thesis aims at suggesting methods and tools originating from CSCW research eld for supporting collaborative conceptual modeling. A framework for studying collaboration support for user participation in conceptual modeling is presented. Some experiences gained from a real world development project are pointed out. The role of the WWW as an enabling technology for supporting di erent forms of user involvment in conceptual modeling is outlined.
1 Research Problem Development of large computer{based information systems is a complex process. One important part of this process is the construction of a conceptual model. A large amount of research in the area of IS development is devoted to developing mechanisms and methods for constructing conceptual models that give an agreed{upon picture of the reality, and that are technically convertible to computer systems. CSCW (Computer{Supported Cooperative Work) has been established as a research eld in the recent years, with a focus on the construction of computer systems for supporting cooperation among people (Schmidt and Bannon 1992). CSCW systems, often called groupware (Ellis, Gibbs and Rein 1991), are developed to support di erent aspects of cooperative work, in most cases with a focus on the activities of small groups. The problem area of this thesis is to identify the possible role that CSCW can play in conceptual modeling, and to suggest methods and/or systems for supporting this activity based on research originating from the CSCW eld.
Design and implementation of the computer sub-system Observation, feedback, usability information, changes in the work practices Requirement data, changes in requirements
Conceptual model of the information system
Direct influence, involvement
User participation, political influence
Business processes and work practices
Managerial influence, political influence Monitoring, administration, control, feedback, changes in the work practice
Management activities
Figure 1: Di erent types of activities in an information system. Conceptual modeling is a collaborative activity, while the collaborative aspects of it are not supported by any speci c computer tool. The basic assumption for this thesis is that conceptual modeling is an inherently social activity, where a successful outcome is dependent on the orchestrated cooperation among di erent people in an organization, all with di erent background's knowledge, interests, and preferences.
1.1 CSCW in an IS perspective Collaboration technology is used in di erent contexts in an IS. The most typical use, which is also the main justi cation for CSCW research (Bannon and Schmidt 1991), is to support workers in their everyday collaborative activities. Numerous groupware, such as message systems, group calendars, and shared workspaces, have been developed to support di erent types of business activities in an organization or across organizational boundaries. This type of groupware is normally found as components in modern information systems, and its main function is to support a small group of employees in performing a speci c task. A second type of usage area for collaboration technology in an IS is in the eld of management. Work ow management systems (WfMS) are one particular type of CSCW technology used (often by the management) to coordinate the work activities of groups of employees (Abbott and Sarin 1994). There are also
other CSCW systems for supporting decision making and strategic planning in an organization. These are referred to as Decision Support Systems (DSS) and are normally used by top and middle management. Electronic meeting systems are an example of such groupware (Nunamaker, Briggs and Mittleman 1995). Development of the computer sub{system is another activity where collaboration technology is often used. Traditional systems for supporting this kind of activity are CASE tools and various validation and automation tools with multi{user functionality. These tools have in common that they often try to minimize the con icts that can arise during the development. These con icts are solved by providing mechanisms such as le locking and version control in a repository. CASE tools are primarily used by the development group. Due to their high competence in using computers, the members of this group normally use various groupware products for supporting their activities. There is also great potential for extending groupware usage among these members. These three types of activities, where groupware usage is of current interest, are shown in gure 1. Each of these activity types are performed by the speci c user group, e.g. employees, management, and developers. There is no clear boundary between the activity types. Neither is there any clear de nition of the type of people performing each activity. As we can also see from the gure, there is a fourth type of activity, namely the construction of the conceptual model. People from the three groups participate in this activity with varying degrees of involvement and in uence.
1.2 Collaborative conceptual modeling Each of the three user groups, in fact any member of these groups, has an opinion about what the IS should be like, and how the computer support for the IS should be realized. A successful implementation of an IS requires that these opinions and views converge into an agreed{upon conceptual model. Conceptual models are formal and semi{formal descriptions of how people in an organization assume that the information processing activities take place in that organization. A conceptual model thus determines the requirements for the future computer sub{system. Traditionally, conceptual models are built according to the top management's view of what the best work practices are. The IS is seen as a business asset, and the management is naturally best suited for taking care of it. Another more recent view of IS is a user{centered one, where the primary role of IS is supporting the human subsystem. In this view, various users (who constitute the organization) are given more power to shape the conceptual model, simply because the IS is meant to serve the human subsystem. A third view of an IS is the view of the development group. This view focuses on the computer subsystem. The goal is to nd a balance between technical innovation on one hand, and limitations in the available technology on the other. The focus is
on developing a cost{e ective and usable computer system for supporting the organizational needs. There is naturally a degree of con ict around the activity of constructing the conceptual model (Wastell 1993). A new IS will change the way the members of an organization work. Taking part in the conceptual modeling activity means that these members' points of view are brought to the surface and considered in the modeling process. The conceptual model, and the resulting IS, will be more accepted and more usable. Cheap desktop communication can make it possible to connect all interested and in uenced users to the activity of conceptual modeling. The next step is to use CSCW technology to provide active support for this process. Some characteristics of conceptual modeling, with direct implications for the work on CSCW support for the process, are:
Variation in background knowledge: A cooperation tool should have mechanisms for supporting people with di erent background knowledge. This impacts the way the conceptual model is presented and understood by various users, or the way contributions from the users are captured and processed, and the like.
Di erent levels of formality: A tool that will both support collaboration and conceptual modeling should nd a proper level of formality. The tool should support both informal cooperation, and formal conceptual modeling languages.
Long term cooperation: Current CSCW systems often support short term tasks. IS development is normally a long term activity, and the members of the developing group change during the development (Walz, Elam and Curtis 1993). There should be more support for collaboration distributed along time aspect.
In the rest of this paper it is assumed that a conceptual model also includes the requirements for the future computer system. These requirements are captured in the model using either formal languages, or informal annotations in the model. Annotations are manually transferred into formal speci cations and become part of the formal conceptual model.
2 Current State of Research I have organized the research related to the area of collaborative conceptual modeling into a framework. This framework is based on how users can be involved in the construction of the conceptual model. The framework seems
to cover most of the methodologies and research I have encountered in the area. It may be that the classi cation is too limited. This I have to take into consideration when I have nished the work on related research. In this classi cation, a user is thought of as a member of the organization that will host the IS. A user can thus be a worker, a manager, a system developer, or any other type of employee. Each user of the IS is assumed to have a mental model of how the organization is working. The mental model of each user is based on his/her experiences and observations of the environment. Mental models are unique for each user, and this is what distinguishes them from conceptual models, which are agreed upon by all involved parts.
Type of par- Method used CSCW support ticipation
Indirect partic- Ethnographical None. ipation studies Surveys Some user surveys available on the WWW lately, but these are too generic for speci c system development tasks. Interviews None Participation Prototyping Some companies use the Internet to through apdistribute so{called \beta" versions of plication intheir products. The users are then stances encouraged to give feedback based on these releases. Tailorability Some work on providing negotiation mechanisms for resolving con icts in group{based tailoring are provided (Wulf 1995), but these currently apply to low{level tailoring. Direct partici- Radical Tai- None. OVAL developers claim to do pation lorability collaborative development, but OVAL itself does not support collaborative tailoring. Online plan- Some systems provide negotiation ning and mechanisms for building online concep exible work- tual models.
ow CASE tools Little. Support is limited to providing multi{user functionality, such as multi{ user databases. The focus is on minimizing con icts.
Table 1: Di erent types of user involvement, and the methods used for each type. The right column shows the CSCW technology available.
According to this classi cation, a conceptual model can be in uenced by a user's mental model, and this is in fact how a conceptual model is constructed in reality. The in uence of a mental model is dependent on the type of participation the owner of that mental model has in the development process. Participation can be one of three types (table 1). Indirect participation means that some users' in uence on the conceptual model will be mediated into the development process by other users. The normal scenario here is that the users are subject to studies done by other users (e.g. system developers) to clarify preferences and possible ineciencies in the work settings. An overview of these methods and how they inform the development process can be found in (Plowman, Rogers and Ramage 1995, Hughes, King, Rodden and Andersen 1994) Three research methods (often empirical (McGrath 1995)) are used quite often for this type of participation:
The users are observed in their natural work environment, normally through video recordings (Suchman and Trigg 1991). These observations are analyzed to nd implications for changes in the conceptual model. There are numerous examples of such studies with the direct aim of helping collaborative system design (Benford, Snowdon, Colebourne, O'Brien and Rodden 1997, Pycock and Bowers 1996, Bentley, Hughes, Randall, Rodden, Sawyer, Shapiro and Sommerville 1992, Nardi and Miller 1990).
The users are activated by means of methods like surveys, where they are exposed to questionnaires that intend to analyze and improve the work environment. The results of these questionnaires are used as implications to the conceptual modeling. The questions asked are directly related to the work settings and the experiences of these users.
The users are interviewed by other users involved in the modeling activity. These interviews are about the work practices and the problem domain the users are working in. The results are used as input to the development process.
An advantage of these methods is that users are studied in the actual work environment, so the implications will be more \real." The disadvantage is that it is often dicult and costly to extract implications for the development process, and to perform the studies in a proper way. There is currently little CSCW support for this type of participation. Internet{based surveys of Internet users is becoming more commonplace, but none of these studies are done in the context of a speci c system development process. The second type of participation is when the users change the conceptual model through an actual instance of it. This is useful when the users are not familiar with the abstraction techniques normally used in conceptual modeling, but
are more familiar with a particular instance of the model, normally in form of a computer system. The research done in this area is in one of these two directions:
Iterative methods, in particular rapid prototyping, where an intermediate instance of the conceptual model is made available in the working environment. The users are then asked to use the prototype and propose improvements to it. The improvements are normally proposed using informal means (such as natural language), and must be interpreted to the more formal conceptual modeling languages. These interpretations will then change the conceptual model. A new prototype will be generated, and the iteration will continue (Lindland 1993, B dker and Gr nbk 1991). Tailorability, where the users change the conceptual model by directly changing a computer{based prototype. Tailorability here implies that the users can extend or change the prede ned functionality of the application. This means that tailorability in its lowest level, where the users can only choose among a prede ned set of options (Henderson and Kyng 1991), will not change the conceptual model since the changes are anticipated.
The advantage of these methods is that the users are encountered with the future IS, and the consequences of the changes are noticed in an early phase of the development process. CSCW support does not exist in a proper form. Tailorable systems normally don't support collaborative tailoring. Rapid prototyping systems don't provide any computer{based link between di erent users. In the third case, the user changes the formal or semi{formal representation of the conceptual model directly. There are normally three methods for involving users in this class. These methods di er in whether the modeling activity and the usage of the system are two distinct phases. CASE tools and administrative work ow management systems assume that modeling is done prior to usage. Online planning and radically tailorable systems assume that the user can change the system while using it:
Radical tailorability, where the users are provided with mechanisms for directly changing the conceptual model of the information system, often using concepts from their own work domain. Examples of radically tailorable systems are OVAL (Malone, Lai and Fry 1995) and Ariadne (Simone and Divitini 1997). Online modeling tools, where the users (e.g. workers) can change the conceptual model while they are working. The philosophy behind these tools is that users are encountered with breakdowns while they work, and these breakdowns are best handled in the exact situation they occur (De Michelis and Grasso 1993). This method has initiated its own research eld, the eld of exible work ow systems (Carlsen 1998).
CASE tools and administrative WfMS focus on modeling and design phases. The conceptual model, or instances of it, is not put into direct usage immediately, but normally go through a distinct development phase. CASE tools are normally used for collaboration inside a development group, and are more focused on the view of system development group (Andersen 1994). Administrative WfMS are used cooperatively by system developers and management. JAD (Joint Application Design) is another example where various users (including workers, or worker representatives) collaboratively edit the conceptual model (Jackson and Embley 1996).
The advantage of these methods is that they produce formal conceptual models more directly. This results in a higher degree of automation. The disadvantage is that there is a pre{assumption for user participation, namely that the users must learn an often complicated modeling language. Another disadvantage is related to the distinction between modeling and usage phases, where the resulting conceptual models don't provide a real picture of the work practices. CSCW support here is provided for some online planning tools, where the users can negotiate about how they should change the conceptual model.
3 Results So Far In the last two years I have been working in the AQUARIUS project1 . The aim of this project is to provide information processing facilities to the members of the European aquaculture community. The project so far has resulted in a prototype of a WWW{based information system. The prototype provides support for exchanging information and experience among di erent user groups. My research has taken bene t of the project in two directions. First, I have been able to investigate the suitability of WWW as a technology for facilitating cooperative conceptual modeling. The implications her are:
Due to its availability and critical mass, WWW can be used for providing a medium for connecting di erent user groups to each other and to the modeling activity. This creates a communication medium that is the preliminary basis for cooperative conceptual modeling.
Because of an intuitive and well{known user interface, users become motivated for using the intermediate prototypes of the IS, and are encouraged to get involved in the modeling process in an early phase.
Information about this project can be found at the project's Web{page at http://aquarius.euro.org. 1
WWW is an appropriate technology for prototyping due to its simple programming environment and low costs connected to the installing new prototypes. We have managed to release several versions of the software with reasonably short intervals.
Another bene t of being a part of this project has been to observe the modeling activities with the goal of providing better support. Several methods from the framework presented in table 1 have been used during the project. Those project participants with little technical background found it easier to interact with the prototype. The prototype also developed into a tailorable system (Farshchian 1998 (forthcoming), Farshchian and Divitini 1997), and this gave the same users the opportunity to do their changes through tailoring. Those participants with computer science background changed conceptual models directly, normally through graphical editors. These activities were supported by a combination of Internet{based tools for communication and coordination. We have used e{mail for communication, and WWW for sharing documents. In particular e{mail list were very popular among the users. Some observations have been done so far, but the collected data needs to be analyzed. Some of the intermediate results are:
Most of the modeling e orts were through interaction with the application (see table 1). Users, with the exception of system developers, preferred to express their desired changes using informal e{mail messages. Their changes were then translated to formal diagrams and included in the documentation of the system. The last point can be due to the fact that though e{mail and WWW are ecient and available, they do not provide any active support for the modeling activities. In particular, there is no support for graphical presentations and editing of conceptual models, capturing requirements, and making design decisions. Having an evolving prototype of the IS, together with the easy access to the development group through e{mail lists, seems to have resulted in a greater desire for changes from some user groups. This is particularly true for those users who wish to change the model through the prototype. The at organization of the e{mail lists makes it dicult to make fast and ecient decisions. This seems to be a non{technical problem and is also a well{known problem in the CSCW eld (Grudin 1994, Orlikowski 1992).
4 Methodology The thesis will be based on empirical studies of conceptual modeling activities done by others and by the author. A survey of available CSCW technology
is also needed to decide what kind of support can be provided in a feasible way. The result of these studies will then shape the requirements for a tool for supporting collaborative conceptual modeling. I hope to be able to test the tool in a real world situation at the end of my research.
5 Contributions The contribution of this thesis will hopefully be the following:
One or more case study of conceptual modeling using collaboration technology.
A survey of available technology for supporting conceptual modeling, and how CSCW is used in this context.
A set of requirements for a CSCW tool supporting collaborative conceptual modeling.
A prototype of this tool, and its test in real world situations.
6 Further Work The AQUARIUS project ends in April 1998. Data from the development process is collected in form of various e{mail lists, meeting notes, project deliverables, etc. and will be analyzed as a part of this thesis. A continuation in form of a similar development process is planned and will hopefully result in more case studies of collaborative conceptual modeling. The prototype itself is planned to be developed with more functionality for supporting conceptual modeling. The goal is to have an environment that is re ective in the sense that it provides active support for being developed in the same way that it has functionality for being used. In this case, the users of the IS will be either working in their own work settings, or they will be able to switch to a development mode and continue developing the system.
7 Acknowledgement The Web{based prototype used in my research was developed during the EU project AQUARIUS. Special thanks go to the project group for participation in the design of this prototype. I also thank Monica Divitini for constructive comments on the paper.
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